New NKorean leader makes first public speechPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered his first public televised speech Sunday, just two days after a failed rocket launch, portraying himself as a strong military chief unafraid of foreign powers during festivities meant to glorify his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. The young new leader, dressed in a dark Mao suit, appeared confident and calm as he read from notes before tens of thousands of pe...

Iran, 6 powers may make progress at nuclear talksISTANBUL (AP) — After years of failure, Iran and the six world powers may finally make some progress on nuclear negotiations when they meet again Saturday if each side shows willingness to offer concessions the other seeks. But even if the two sides find enough common ground, they may have a tougher time in any potential second round. That’s when the six powers will likely seek further commitments from Tehran to reduce fears that it could use ...

Yemen: Military kills 28 al-Qaida militantsSANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Yemeni Defense Ministry said military troops and armed civilians killed 28 al-Qaida-linked militants in battles on Friday in the southern part of the country. The fighting is the latest in a series of bloody confrontations between government forces and militants in southern Yemen where militants control a patchwork of towns taken mostly last year during the country’s political turmoil. The ministry said in a statement t...

UN to vote Saturday on 1st observers for SyriaUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council scheduled a vote Saturday on a resolution authorizing the deployment of the first wave of U.N. military observers to monitor a cease-fire between the Syrian government and opposition fighters which appears to be largely holding. The draft resolution, obtained Friday night by The Associated Press, calls on both sides to immediately “cease all armed violence in all its forms” and calls on the Syria...

Failed launch is setback for North Korea’s new leaderPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s much-touted satellite launch ended in a nearly $1 billion failure, bringing humiliation to the country’s new young leader and condemnation from a host of nations. The United Nations Security Council deplored the launch but stopped short of imposing new penalties in response. The rocket’s disintegration Friday over the Yellow Sea brought a rare public acknowledgment of failure from Pyongyang, which ha...

North Korea fires long-range rocketPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea's much-anticipated rocket launch ended quickly in failure early Friday, splintering into pieces over the Yellow Sea soon after takeoff, according to South Korean and U.S. officials. There was silence on the launch from officials in Pyongyang, which proceeded despite protests from the U.S., South Korea and other countries that called the launch a cover for a test of missile technology. North Korea said ...

Fighter jets over Pyongyang as DPRK readies rocketPYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Fighter jets roared through the skies over downtown Pyongyang on Thursday as the world watched to see whether North Korea would defy international warnings and launch a long-range rocket over the Yellow Sea. The five-day window for the launch of a rocket mounted with an observation satellite opened Thursday as North Koreans woke to details about developments at a Workers’ Party conference where leader Kim Jong Un ...

Panic but no tsunami from strong Indonesia quakesBANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Cries of panic and fervent prayers rang out Wednesday as Indonesians rushed toward high ground after two strong earthquakes raised fears of a killer tsunami. Alerts were raised as far away as Africa and Australia but this time the big waves didn’t come. In western Indonesia, distraught women ran into the streets clinging to crying children as back-to-back tsunami warnings revived memories of the 2004 disaster that ...

Activist report calm in Syria at truce deadlineBEIRUT (AP) — Opposition activists said Syria’s uprising hotspots were quiet after a deadline for a U.N.-brokered truce passed at dawn Thursday, hours after President Bashar Assad’s regime promised special peace envoy Kofi Annan it would halt fighting. It was the first brief lull after weeks of escalating attacks on opposition strongholds. Still, expectations were low for an abrupt end to the bloodshed that has roiled Syria for 13 months and c...

Iran lawmaker: Country can produce nuclear weaponsTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker has said. Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam is a parliamentarian not a government official and his views do not represent the Iranian government’s policy. It however is the first time that such a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapo...

US warns Syria it can’t deceive world over pulloutBEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. warned Syria it won’t be able to deceive the world about compliance with a cease-fire that is just days away, as regime forces pounded more opposition strongholds Saturday in an apparent rush to crush resistance before troops must withdraw. Activists said more than 100 people were killed, including at least 87 civilians. Almost half died in a Syrian army raid on the central village of al-Latamneh, activists said. Amateur...

Yemen: Ex-president’s loyalists attack airportSANAA, Yemen (AP) — Loyalists of former Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the country’s main airport Saturday as tanks and armored vehicles occupied the tarmac and forced authorities to cancel flights, a day after a military shake-up in which key commanders were fired. Driving pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, armed tribesmen along with troops in uniform blasted buildings of Sanaa International Airport and opened fire on one...

Mali’s coup leader to return powerBAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Under intense pressure from the nations bordering Mali, the junior officer who seized control of the country in a coup last month signed an accord late Friday, agreeing to return the nation to constitutional rule. The announcement came only hours after separatist rebels in Mali’s distant north declared their independence, a move that further complicates a crisis that began 16 days ago when a group of disgruntled soldiers st...

Syrian refugees flee violence, talk of mass gravesREYHANLI, Turkey (AP) — After days of relentless shelling and sniper attacks, thousands of Syrian refugees streamed across the border into Turkey with horrific accounts Friday of mass graves, massacres and burned-out homes. The latest reports of escalating violence fueled accusations that President Bashar Assad is rushing to stamp out as much of the year-old uprising as he can before a U.N.-brokered cease-fire next week. The trigger for the ne...

South Sudan says it shoots down Sudanese jetJUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan says it shot down a Sudanese fighter jet Wednesday after two military planes dropped bombs around its oil fields, but Sudan denied it had lost such an aircraft. Military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said the downed plane was a Sudanese MiG-29 jet fighter flying in South Sudan’s Unity State, but Sudan’s army spokesman denied any Sudanese jets were downed, saying the claim by the south lacked evidence. “This i...

Afghan bomb kills at least 10, including 3 GIsKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 10 people, including three American soldiers, at a park in a relatively peaceful area of northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, part of an increase in violence at the start of the spring fighting season. The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, are targeting Afghan and NATO security forces as they fight to assert their power and undermine U.S. efforts to tr...

Israeli forces evict settlers in HebronHEBRON, West Bank (AP) — Israeli security forces swiftly evicted dozens of Jewish settlers from an illegally occupied building in this volatile West Bank city on Wednesday, ending a weeklong standoff that had threatened to spill over into broader violence. The raid caught the settlers off guard. Only a day earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had moved to block the eviction order. Settler supporters in Netanyahu’s hard-line government co...

Tourists ask UK for help on restaurants, romanceLONDON (AP) — Troublesome tourists bombard British embassies with bizarre requests for help — seeking assistance booking restaurants, finding directions or making romantic advances toward locals, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday. Announcing plans to bolster the response by diplomats to emergencies in other countries, Hague disclosed details of the wild demands made to embassies by traveling Britons. A tourist in the United States...

Syria forces assault rebellious towns before truceBEIRUT (AP) — Syrian artillery pounded the rebellious city of Homs and tanks and troops stormed towns in the north and south on Wednesday, deepening doubts that President Bashar Assad will follow through on his commitment to a truce starting next week. Anti-regime activists cited the new assaults as evidence Assad is trying to crush those seeking to overthrow his regime before the cease-fire brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan begins on...

Bombs in southern Thailand kill 14, injure 340HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — Suspected Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated attacks in years in Thailand’s restive south, killing 14 people and injuring 340 with car bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists. A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of Yala city, a main commercial hub of Thailand’s...